GMB commented on the unemployment figures released on 16th October which shows that just under 2.5 million people were out of work in the three months to August 2013.
Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary, said "That we have mass unemployment of two and a half million six years into recession shows the human costs caused by the excesses of the bankers. It is young workers who have had to bear the heavy brunt for the recession that resulted.
Government has deliberately added to mass unemployment as total public sector employment has fallen by 631,000 since the election in 2010. The tragedy is that the worse is yet to come. The Office for Budget Responsibilities' forecast for net total public sector job losses for the next two years could be up to a further 400,000 job losses. See notes to editors for GMB release with regional breakdown of public sector job losses.
The recession has also taken a toll on the living standards of almost the whole working population.
The Tories are banking on the electorate not holding them to account for stalling the recovery they inherited from Alistair Darling and for crashing the real value of wages and living standards by 5.5% since the election. The recovery underway has been needlessly delayed. I doubt if the electorate will be that forgiving for a delay which has cost them dearly.”
Notes
GMB press release of 30th September 2013
OFFICIAL DATA SHOWS 631,000 PUBLIC SECTOR JOB LOSSES SINCE 2010 GENERAL ELECTION DUE TO GOVERNMENT POLICIES
Worse is to come as OBR's forecast for net total public sector job losses during this Parliament means that for the next two years a further 400,000 jobs could be lost says GMB
The number of employees across all the public sector in the UK (seasonally adjusted) has fallen from 6,328,000 in Q1 2010 to 5,697,000 in Q1 2013. This is a fall of 631,000 or -10.0%.
The fall in the number of employees across the public sector in the UK, not seasonally adjusted, is 633,000. (That is 2,000 higher than the fall in the seasonally adjusted figures).
The fall in the number of public sector employees in North West has been 83,,000 or -11.4%, followed by the South West with a fall of 77,000 or -13.9% followed by London with a fall of 73,000 or -9.0%, followed by West Midlands with a fall of 61,000 or -11.5%, followed by Yorkshire and The Humber with a fall of 60,000 or -10.6%, followed by South East with a fall of 58,000 or -8.0%, followed by East of England with a fall of 49,000 or -10.3%, followed by Scotland with a fall of -49,000 or -7.8%, followed by North East with a fall of 43,000 or -14.5%, East Midlands with a fall of 44,000 or -10.8%, Wales with a fall of 20,000 or -5.7% and Northern Ireland with a fall of 11,000 or -4.8%. The data for all regions in the UK, not seasonally adjusted, is set out in the table below.
This analysis of official data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) was done by GMB, the union for public service workers. For sources and definitions see Note to Editors below.
Change in Regional public sector employment 2010 Q1 and 2013 Q1
Headcount (thousands), not seasonally adjusted
2010 Q1
2013 Q1
change
% change
North West
727,000
644,000
-83,000
-11.4
South West
554,000
477,000
-77,000
-13.9
London
814,000
741,000
-73,000
-9.0
West Midlands
532,000
471,000
-61,000
-11.5
Yorkshire and The Humber
567,000
507,000
-60,000
-10.6
South East
724,000
666,000
-58,000
-8.0
East of England
478,000
429,000
-49,000
-10.3
East Midlands
406,000
362,000
-44,000
-10.8
North East
297,000
256,000
-41,000
-13.8
Wales
351,000
331,000
-20,000
-5.7
Scotland 8
630000
581000
-49,000
-7.8
Northern Ireland 10 11
229,000
218,000
-11,000
-4.8
United Kingdom 12 13
6,343,000
5,710,000
-633,000
-10.0
United Kingdom (seasonally adjusted) 12 13
6,328,000
5,697,000
-631,000
-10.0
Brian Strutton, GMB National Secretary for Public Services, said “These new statistics show the devastating effect of this government's austerity cuts on total public sector employment with over 631,000 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis gone since 2010.
In particular, some parts of the country that are most dependent on the public sector to support their local economies have been hardest hit.
The tragedy is that the worse is yet to come. The Office for Budget Responsibilities' forecast for net total public sector job losses during the lifetime of this Parliament means that the prospect for the next two years could be up to a further 400,000 job losses.
The evidence on the ground supports this, with our feedback from the current round of council budget reviews for next year suggesting accelerating cutbacks. Last week Wandsworth Council announced a further £43m cuts from April to take total budget cuts to £70m bears this out.
As a result, many communities in some of the most deprived regions will find their local economy in tatters.
GMB representatives from around the country are reporting that public sector workers are fed up with being told they have to accept pay restraint and reductions to their terms and conditions to protect their jobs and their local services only to find that the jobs and services go anyway.
With more attacks on the jobs and conditions in the offing GMB has called a national meeting of senior stewards for Friday 4th October to determine our response."
Notes to editors
1 Sources - Office for National Statistics: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-303285
2 Estimates are based on where people are employed.
3 Quarterly changes in employment may be due to seasonal effects.
4 English further education colleges and English sixth form college corporations classified to the public sector from 1993 to 31 March 2012. They are therefore included in public sector estimates from 1993 to Q1 2012, and to the private sector thereafter.
5 Footnotes to table
Footnote 8: Estimates of public sector employment for Scotland have been revised in-line with the Q1 2013 Public Sector in Scotland publication. Further details can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment
Footnote 10: Estimates of public sector employment for Northern Ireland will differ to those published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency which exclude HM Forces personnel. Further details can be found at http://http://www.detini.gov.uk/stats-pubs-18
Footnote 11: The use of workplace based LFS estimates of total employment may overestimate the proportion of public sector employment for Northern Ireland.
Footnote 12: Includes approximately 30,000 public sector employees who could not be assigned to a region.
Footnote 13: UK rates based on total employment that includes overseas employees, those who did not state their region of workplace when surveyed as part of the Labour Force Survey and public sector employees that could not be assigned to a region.